As promised, a bill that could ban TikTok in the US reached the US House of Representatives earlier today. CNN reports that the bill was approved by the full House with a 352-65 vote. The story adds that 15 Republicans and 50 Democrats voted not to approve the bill, and one Democrat House member voted present.
The bill, officially labeled the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, was previously approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee in a 50-0 vote.
If the bill is passed into law, it would require that TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, sell off its interests in the social network 165 days after it goes into effect. If ByteDance fails to do so, TikTok could be banned from US app stores.
The bill was created because many lawmakers believe that ByteDance, which is based in China, could transfer data it collects from US users to the Chinese government. ByteDance has repeatedly denied it would send data to the Chinese government and has called this particular bill an effort to ban TikTok in the US.
Now that the House has passed this bill, it heads to the US Senate for its approval. However, so far, there's no indication of how the members of the Senate will vote on this bill. CNN stated that on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he plans "to consult with my relevant committee chairman to see what their views would be." It would take at least 60 Senate members to approve the bill. If that does happen, US President Joe Biden has already indicated he will sign the bill into law.
Meanwhile, there are reports of efforts by US business interests to buy TikTok. Former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is reportedly trying to get partners in an attempt to buy the social network.
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